Isolates of Fusarium avenaceum, mostly from crops of white lupin or wheat, were tested for pathogenicity on white lupin and wheat plants and compared by DNA tests and, in a limited study, vegetative compatibility. Most of the 80 isolates were pathogenic on both plant species after inoculation on shoot bases. Disease severity was greater at higher incubation temperatures that ranged from 15/10°C to 25/20°C (day/night temperatures). Isolates from lupin crops tended to be more pathogenic, on average, on lupins than on cereals. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)‐restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region of the rDNA distinguished two groups of isolates that occurred in different proportions among isolates from lupins and cereal crops. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)‐PCR analyses indicated considerable genetic variation among isolates, but there was some similarity among groups of isolates from populations in the same field. Genetic diversity was confirmed by a high degree of vegetative incompatibility among 20 isolates using nitrate nonutilizing mutants. There were no relationships among pathogenicity, RFLP group, RAPD group and vegetative compatibility group.
Trichoderma species offer considerable potential for controlling aflatoxin contamination in groundnut and other crops. Initial classification of 48 Trichoderma isolates, derived from four different groundnut cultivation sites in India was based on alignment of 28S rDNA sequences to GenBank sequences of ex-type strains. This was found to be substantially more reliable than our routine morphological characterization, but did not provide a comprehensive diagnostic solution, as unique single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) haplotypes could not be identified for all species. However, all the Trichoderma isolates could be readily distinguished by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis, based on six primer pair combinations, which generated 234 polymorphic bands. In addition, individual AFLP bands were identified which differentiate closely related species. Similarly, AFLP bands were identified that correlated with different types of antagonism to Aspergillus flavus. The implications of these results for the development of simple polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based diagnostic assays for antagonistic isolates of Trichoderma is discussed.www.blackwell-synergy.com
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